Ongoing Review of David Mary EDChef

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

If you didn’t see David’s introduction/ revealing of his new EDChef (the Every Day Chef), check it out for more details here:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/edchef-prototype-old.1719369/#post-19655527

Now this knife is the actual prototype. It’a made from the steel of a sawmill blade (1080). I’m excited to see what kind of patina develops. The main reason for wanting a knife like this and reaching out to David about one is having an EDC knife that will do just about any daily task I want but be able to cut food well since that’s what I do the most of on a day to day basis. I grew tired of using a solid edc blade like an esee3 or izula that fulfilled all my edc needs but was only decent (at best) for cutting food. The EDChef will is designed to handle any edc task but will excel at cutting food.
I have had this blade in my possession for a few weeks and the only thing I’ve cut was cheese (literally you goofballs) one time. I’ve had this grand idea that I’m gonna take it on this glorious outing for its maiden cutting voyage so it sat next to my bed or on my lap and was fondled regularly while waiting for that perfect opportunity. The other day I realized that once again in my dream world of obsessive love of all things knives and gear I forgot what this knife is and why I wanted it...as a tool to use “EVERY DAY”!!!
So I decided I am going to review this knife in a different sort of way. I’m going to do it in real time , as I use it. Each post after this initial one will be posted as a daily log of tasks. Feel free to make comments, ask questions, correct my grammar, or tell me I’m wrong for whatever it is I’m doing wrong at the moment.

Here is the specs and original photos from David Mary

1/8" thick ~1080 steel from a sawmill blade. It was heat treated, quenched in Canola oil, and tempered at 400° F. It is ground to >.0012" behind the edge, with a 15° per side primary edge, and 20° per side microbevel. It has black paper micarta handle scales and brass tubes. Comes in a custom molded Kydex sheath.

Overall length-
7.75 inches

Blade length (tip to handle)
About 4 inches

Actual cutting edge
About 3.75 inches

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

These are David’s original photos.

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

Day 1

One of the things I find that non-kitchen knives do not cut well is onions. Thick blades are especially awful at it. It can be done, but I’d rather have the right tool for the job. The EDChef is thin and slicey. It felt very good in the hand. The size lends itself to a feel of total control over the whole blade. I could immediately tell there was a light patina forming (just a few darker spots).
I added the onions to my breakfast salad concoction and headed to the patio.
I sliced up the smokie links and poached eggs and threw them in as well. The only complaint was that the knife was so scary sharp it cut through the paper plate even with the lightest of pull slices. I had to use the rolling chop action. After all the food was ready I poured in a little Pace Picante and some hot sauce. The rest was history


Here’s the pics

 

[David Mary]

OFM4, you humble me by your kindness! And onions, eh? That patina won't take long!

Tek lock looks good on it, right handed cross draw if I'm not mistaken? Nice pics you got there, but this one's my favorite:

Thanks again, and I'm so glad you like it enough to share it!

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

Are you kidding? I don’t like it, I love it...lol

Its an onion slicing beast. Which brings me to...

Day 2

You guessed it, more onions. I think you are going to see an ongoing pattern here.lol Today it was peppers and onions for our Chicken Fajita Bowls. The chicken was pre-cooked and diced so the only thing EDChef helped with in that regard was cutting open the package. Once again my only complaint was the sharpness. I’m not use to kitchen knives this sharp. I had to throw away my cheap old cutting board because I sliced through it LOL. The patina is coming along quite nicely.

 

[Ridgeback888]

love the size and shape!

 

[David Mary]

Canada post website says my EDChef blanks in AEB-L should be arriving back from heat treatment on Thursday... excited!!!

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

Those are going to be awesome. AEB-L is a great steel.

Canada post website says my EDChef blanks in AEB-L should be arriving back from heat treatment on Thursday... excited!!!

View attachment 1334994

.

 

[David Mary]

They're here, three of them, along with the rest of the AEB-L batch!

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

Day 3

I ordered some meat from the local market to be delivered to my house. I provided specific instructions on how I wanted the meat cut (steaks for Mother’s Day) but the genius just delivered it whole. I’m not the best at butchering meat which is usually why I have the meat guy do it lol. But I figured it would be a good task for the EDChef. Considering how large the meat was the EDChef did really well. It trimmed fat off pretty easily. The only struggle was that hard sinewy layer of fat on the top. It was hard slicing through that when I was making them into steaks. I tried a really expensive 12” Wustof butcher knife of my mother-in-law’s and it struggled just as much. When I would finally get through it would just slice through the red meat like a laser. The only other issue is once again I cut through my cutting board. But I’m keeping it to see how long I can make it last lol.
Here it is only after a few steaks were cut off

Here it is all cut up. I may or may not have taken a hunk from the last steak and cut it up into small slices and tossed in freezer for our next day hike. The plate is steaks, the blue cutting board Is the fat I trimmed off the steaks that have a decent bit of meat...That will be for homemade French onion soup. The green cardboard is all just hard fat with my EDChef stuck in it. I hated to throw all that fat away.

I did a paper cut test after and it was still pretty sharp. I’m gonna hit it with a strop anyways. (Slice year on top, feather test on right side)

And here is an updated pic of the patina forming on both sides.

 

[V-1]

Love the patina so far. Great review on a great knife. Thanks for posting it!

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

Day 4

I’m a day behind in posting so here is yesterday’s Mother’s Day dinner (the steaks).
Veggie Prep- My wife loves grilled vegetables so I cut up onions, squash, zucchini, mini sweet peppers and mini tomatoes.

I leave the tomatoes whole so they don’t lose all the juice but I wanted to see how thin I could slice a few of them. They were juicy and squishy like garden tomatoes. If they were grape tomatoes or Romas I could have sliced them so thin they were translucent...

As always I cut up the steak for my daughter and wife, it’s become a tradition because my late father-in-law did it for my wife well into adulthood and I do it as a way to honor him.

Dinner was amazing! I forgot to top my steak with the mushrooms sautéed in butter before taking the picture.

After dinner I cut the corn off all the cobs and froze it. The EDChef did this so effortlessly that I nearly cut myself a few times.

As a gift to my wife and mother-in-law (who lives with us), my 8yo daughter created a spa experience for them, complete with strawberries and whip cream. So naturally comes, “Daddy can you please cut these up for me?” (let’s not forget the big blue puppy dog eyes that I can never resist). So out comes EDChef to the rescue...

And for a bedtime snack the kids wanted a little bit of cheddar cheese. (So yes once again I cut the cheese)

These last few days have really shown me the versatility of this little knife. I am loving the patina. In my opinion, nothing looks better on a knife than natural wear and tear. Forced patinas and purposely stripped blades have their place but I love seeing a patina that has naturally developed with time and use or a coated blade that has been used hard and the coating looks well worn...

I’ll snap a photo later with an updated patina shot outside in natural light...

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

Here’s the patina in far better lighting...

 

[David Mary]

Hey OFM4, wow, that colorful patina looks amazing! Thanks again for helping to inspire this design, it's looking like a success as far as intended purpose.

 

[Insipid Moniker]

That looks like an excellent EDC and a handy kitchen tool as well. Bet it would break down a chicken very nicely.

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

It will definitely be taking on a chicken in the near future

 

[OutdoorsFamilyMan4]

Day 5

One of the most important characteristics (and least practical lol) that I look for in any knife, but especially in an edc blade, is how photogenic it is... I love taking pics of my knives, whether it be action shots or glamour shots. So that’s what today’s task was about. How does it photograph? I also have a new phone so I was also playing with the camera effects...

 

[Seanieo]

Excellent review that propelled my purchase. The new radiused EDChef rocks!

 

[David Mary]

I'm getting hungry just looking at this thread

 

[woodysone]

I received one of these in AEB-l with the radius top, thin and hard, 63rc and have to say it came at the perfect time as the garden was starting to produce. This is a true work of art, super sharp and thin. Tomatoes are my favorite to cut nice and thin with no effort, thank you David for doing this project it really shows that when you make something this good they will use it.